Mastodon tooth found in Holmes County
In a state MILLERSBURG — like Ohio, with such a rich history, it can be common to find a variety of fossils and arrowheads or similar artifacts buried just beneath our feet.
But when the fossil of a mastodon tooth was found on his property, Jason Nies was quite surprised.
Nies, who owns the Inn at Honey Run, 6920 County Road 203, said the discovery was made on July 26 during a family reunion at the inn.
“My cousin has two kids and my sister has three kids,” Nies said. “So, I let the kids go down and play in the creek. They were just hanging out down there and my cousin’s son, Jackson, found this.”
The family immediately started searching the internet to find what the fossil was, Nies said.
“They thought it was a fossil of something, but they didn’t know what,” he said. “As soon as we saw the ridges on the bottom, it matched up with the pictures of what we would see for a [mastodon] tooth.”
The tooth was found in Honey Run’s creekbed, Nies said, which is located in the northeast corner of the property.
Since the discovery, Nies has reached out to college professors from Ohio State University, Ashland University and the College of Wooster, as well as the Ohio History Connection.
“Everybody verified from pictures that it was a [mastodon] tooth,” Nies said.
Dr. Nigel Brush, a professor of geology at Ashland University, visited the Inn at Honey Run to examine the tooth in person, Nies said.
“[He] seemed really impressed. He said it was a good specimen,” Nies said.
Dale Gnidovec, manager and curator of the Orton Geological Museum at Ohio State University, believes it to be an upper third molar from a mastodon, Nies said.
The North American mastodons were large fur-covered plant-eaters that are distantly related to today’s elephants, according to the Ohio History Connection. Mastodon teeth are distinct due to the ridges along the bottom of the tooth, used for grinding plants and bark, the OHC said.
Mastodon’s are slightly shorter and stockier than their cousin, the woolly mammoth. Both species went extinct at least 10,000 years ago, the OHC said.
Nies said he plans to give the tooth to Jackson Hepner, 12, who lives in Virginia, and who originally found the artifact, he said.
“It’s cool, it’s something interesting,” Nies said. “When in my life am I ever going to see it again? I think we were all just really surprised. The kids were finding little raccoon teeth and jaws and skeletons and having a fun time with that. And then to come in contact with — the [mastadons] were, what 10,000 years ago I think — that’s pretty cool.”